DOVER, Del. – Chase Elliott got the advantage over Denny Hamlin on a NASCAR Overtime restart to win the Gander Outdoors 400 at Dover International Speedway on Sunday. The win also advances Elliott into the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Playoffs.
Elliott only led the final 11 laps of Sunday's 404-lap race to capture his second-career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win. The driver of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet took over the lead after crew chief Alan Gustafson kept the 22-year-old on the track during the final round of pit stops.
Elliott will now advance to the Round of 8 and not have to worry so much about the upcoming, unpredictable race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Hamlin, who was eliminated from the NASCAR Playoffs in the Round of 16 finished second in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota. The runner-up finish comes as a sigh of relief after finishing 12th at the Charlotte ROVAL, 16th at Richmond and 32nd in Las Vegas. While Hamlin didn't have anything for Elliott in NASCAR Overtime, he was very pleased with his team's efforts.
A two-tire call on the final pit stop and a red flag helped Joey Logano capture a third-place finish. The driver of the Team Penske No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford was lucky to get a top-five finish after hitting an axle that was bouncing through Turns 3 and 4.
Erik Jones and Kurt Busch finished fourth and fifth respectively. Kevin Harvick won Stages 1 and 2 as he led a race high of 286 laps; however, he finished sixth. Rounding out the top-10 were Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Daniel Suarez.
During the Gander Outdoors 400, there were two cautions for accidents.
Clint Bowyer was on his way to have a competitive finish, but after pitting for a possible loose tire, his Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Haas VF1/Rush Truck Centers Ford unexpectedly pounded the outside wall in Turn 3 due to some sort of failure. The NASCAR Playoff contender finished an extremely disappointing 35th.
A crash on lap 398 took out several NASCAR Playoff contenders and set the field up for a NASCAR Overtime finish. While trying to stay up front and battle for the win, Aric Almirola got into the outside wall exiting Turn 2 and ricocheted into Brad Keselowski. The two drivers crashed down the backstretch, collecting Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman and Ryan Blaney. The red flag was displayed for nearly five minutes.
Following Dover, the four drivers below the Round of 8 cutline are Almirola (-10), Bowyer (-10), Kyle Larson (-12) and Bowman (-34).
The drivers above the cutline include Elliott, Harvick (+68), Kyle Busch (+63), Truex Jr. (+36), Logano (+31), Kurt Busch (+21), Keselowski (+21) and Ryan Blaney (+10).
The 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway will broadcast live on NBC and the Motor Racing Network (MRN) at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 14.